Four highly rated drugmakers beat analysts’ second-quarter estimates Tuesday, but they generally followed this season’s trend of guiding conservatively. Specialty/generics giant Actavis’ (ACT) earnings rose 70% vs. a year earlier to $3.42 a share, beating forecasts by 5 cents. Sales rose 34% to $2.67 billion, more than $100 million above estimates. The company offered its first guidance since it bought Forest Laboratories, which
Specialty drugmakers and IBD 50 stocks Actavis (ACT) and Akorn were headed in opposite directions in the stock market today after the companies reported their second-quarter earnings and updated their guidance. Actavis’ earnings rose 70% over the year-earlier quarter to $3.42 a share, beating analysts’ consensus by 5 cents. Sales rose 34% to $2.67 billion, more than $100 million above estimates. That, however, was the old Actavis. What really
Brenton Saunders and Paul Bisaro have a lot of experience in making big pharma deals. Since he became CEO of generic drugmaker Watson Pharmaceuticals in 2007, Bisaro has built the company into a giant through its 2012 buyout of Actavis (ACT), whose name Watson adopted, and last year’s purchase of Warner Chilcott, which won the company a low-tax Irish address. Meanwhile, in 2010, Saunders was appointed CEO of Bausch & Lomb, which he sold to Valeant